“Today we're seeing that climate change is about more than a few unseasonably mild winters or hot summers. It's about the chain of natural catastrophes and devastating weather patterns that global warming is beginning to set off around the world – the frequency and intensity of which are breaking records thousands of years old.” Barrack Obama, U.S. President

Climate change is one of the biggest global challenges that we as a nation of the world are facing today. Several studies have indicated that much of the change has been man-made and destructive. As the global phenomenon has escalated into a global issue, there has become apparent an ever increasing need to eradicate or at the very least, reduce the disastrous effects of climate change that has been triggered by the actions of the very people that will be harmed by it.

We all share the responsibility for making this world a better place for future generations. How children are educated today will decide the kind of place our world will be in future.
Inculcating positive environmental habits in early years can go a long way in making children attuned to keeping the environment clean in their life as adults later on.

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What can Preschool (Katchi) Teachers do?

It can be interesting yet challenging to plan activities for preschoolers about environment and climate change. There is no need to teach ozone layer, global warming, adverse effects of climate change and other complicated issue at this level. Simply communicating what and how children should contribute to keep the environment healthy for plants, animals and humans is sufficient.

Firstly, children should be encouraged to take actions believing that they can actually make a difference with even the smallest action. We need to involve children in to taking care of our environment by some simple and interesting activities. In the beginning they might not understand what it means, why it is important and what difference does it make, however with continuous efforts and reinforcements children would surely be able to link up these small steps to bigger changes as even a small change counts a lot.

The purpose of this article is to share a collection of activities for preschool (Katchi) teachers to create awareness about preservation of nature. Keeping in view the differences in urban rural environment, the activities are a kind of mix to get maximum benefit.  Continuous adult supervision is recommended for all activities.

The beginning could be simple broad themes; the following are a few examples but are not limited to:

• Plant Trees as well as Save Trees
• Using water wisely
• Support and explain the 3 R’s Reduce, Reuse and Recycle
• Energy Conservation and efficient use (you can also connect it to the load shedding to make them understand better)
• Conservation and Efficient use of all natural resources for example, walking instead of using cars, using recycled paper etc.

Activities for Preschoolers (Katchi)
Activities outside the classroom

1. Plan exploratory visits to places which provide them ample opportunities to appreciate nature as well as the importance of each living creature, for example, park, zoo, ponds etc.
2. A small plot inside the school can be developed as a school garden. Children can be taught about the plants which are known to thrive there; they themselves should sow the seeds individually or in groups and take care of by watering them regularly. 

Exploratory visits outside the classroom create appreciation for the environment. There is a lot of opportunity for this kind of exploration to the children living in rural areas. For schools present in urban areas, exploration outside the school could be a rare possibility but a concerted effort can be done to create an appreciation of natural environments by the availability of plantations in the surrounding areas and the children should be the ones who plant and take care of these plants.